Combined cap and valve operating member for aerosol dispensers



- ix' v Feb. 16, 1965 J. R. FOCHT 3,169,673

COMBINED CAP AND VALVE OPERATING MEMBER FOR AEROSOL DISPENSERS Filed June 18, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. JZaHN PIC/#220 FbCf/T' ATTORNEY Feb. 16, 1965 J. R. FOCHT 3, 7

COMBINED CAP AND VALVE OPERATING MEMBER FOR AEROSOL DISPENSERS Filed June 18, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 8 34 2 T .7 T 5 f SIP I 7 29 1, 1 6 q 7 ze I 32 m k 30 I11. 9, v 23 9| l Z5 7 25 25 L 1 8 INVENTOR. JbH/u Fla/men For/1r FJTTOENEY United States Patent 3,169,673 CGMBINEH) CAP AND VALVE OPERATES MEMBER FGR AEROSOL DESPENSERS John Richard Foeht, Yonkers, N.Y., assignor to Precision Valve Corporation, Yonkers, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed June 18, 1963, Ser. No. 288,665 14 Claims. (Cl. 222-182) This invention is a combined cap and valve operating member for aerosol dispensers of the type which is adapted to be permanently mounted on the top of an aerosol can and embodies a valve operating member, hereinafter referred to as the valve operator, cooperating with a valve stem so that, when manually actuated, the valve of the can is opened and material discharged therefrom. With the valve operator is associated a cap or hood which protects the valve operator against inadvertent actuation during stacking or otherwise. This broad combination is well known, but in every case, so far as I-am aware, the discharge of the spray therefrom is always in the same direction relative to the axis of the can.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an assembly of the character described wherein the direction of the spray may be varied relative to the axis :of the can in a simple and efficient manner, at the will of the user.

Speaking generally, the valve operator is in the form of a tab provided on its underside with a socket to receive the valve stem of an aerosol can. This tab is integral with and pivotal with respect to the cap which surrounds the tab and a discharge passage leads from said socket to an arcuate surface on the cap. A spray director of arcuate form is seated with respect to the arcuate surface on the cap and is provided therein with grooves communicating with a discharge outlet to the atmosphere. This spray director is manually adjustable, so that the discharge outlet thereof may be adjusted by circumferential movement of the spray director to direct the spray in different angular relations to the axis of the can, whereby the can may be held substantially upright at all times, while directing the spray in different angular directions relative to the horizontal.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and appended claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The accompanying drawings illustrate different practical embodiments of the invention, but the constructions shown therein are to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one form of the combined cap and valve operating member of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a central vertical section through the structure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of such structure with the spray director removed.

FIG. 4 is a fragmental view looking from the left side of FIG. 3, as indicated by the arrows, 4, 4 in the latter figure.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the spray 3,169,673 Ce Patented Feb. 16, 1965 Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a valve operating member shown as a pivoted tab provided on its under side with a socket 2, adapted to fit over the tubular valve stem of an aerosol dispenser can. The tab is pivoted at 3 to the top wall 4 of a cap by a relatively narrow in tegral strip, while the remainder of its periphery is spaced from said top wall, as shown best in FIG. 1.

The cap is shown as provided with an inner wall 5 having at its lower end an internal bead to'engage with the curled edge of the mounting cup of the can for the purpose of firmly supporting the cap thereon. Spaced from the inner wall 5 is an outer wall 6 of any desired height, having at one side thereof an external recess 7 in which is formed a substantially semi-cylindrical boss 8 having an exposed cylindrical bearing surface 9 at the opposite sides of which are formed slots 10. Cooperating with this bearing surface 9 is a spray director 12. This spray director is of arcuate form and it is provided at its opposite lateral edges with flanges 13 which extend into the slots 10 and carry at their outer sides horizontally alined trunnions 14 received in horizontally alined indentations 15 formed in the opposing faces of the slots 10.

The inner surface of the spray director 12 is of arcuate form, corresponding to the bearing surface 9 of the boss 8 and the trunnions 14 and indentations 15 are located at the center of curvature of the arcuate surfaces of the boss and spray director so as to maintain the concave surface of the latter at all times in close facial bearing engagement with the bearing surface 9 of said boss, as best shown in FIG. 2. With this arrangement the spray director is supported for pivotal movement about the axis of the trunnions while maintaining the facial relation referred to.

The socket 2 at the under side of the tab 1 is connected to a discharge passage 16 which leads to the bearing surface 9 of the boss 8 and communicates with grooves 17 so that material fed from the can through the passage 16 enters into said grooves 17. These grooves are adapted to communicate with registering grooves 18 formed in the inner arcuate face of the spray director 12 and said grooves 18 lead to an annular chamber 19. Passages 21) lead from the annular chamber 19 to discharge outlet 21 and are tangent to said outlet so that material fed from the can through the passage 16 and grooves 17 and 18 into the annular chamber 19 are discharged from the discharge outlet 21 in the form of a whirling spray.

This whirling spray means is the preferred form of this invention, although, if desired, the chamber 19 may be substantially cylindrical and devoid of the tangential passages 20, so as to produce the usual conventional spray without the swirling action therein.

The grooves 17 and 18 of the boss and spray director respectively are made sufliciently long so that they will communicate with one another as the spray director is pivotally moved on the trunnions 14, so that the discharge outlet 21 will preferably be at all times in communication with the passage 16 and the socket 2, although, if desired, the spray director may have sufiicient overtravel to actually bring these grooves out of registration and thereby seal the discharge passage 16 with respect to the atmosphere. This is optional.

When the structure of this invention is mounted on an aerosol dispenser can C, it will be apparent that the direction of the spray pattern can be vertically adjusted relative to the axis of the can and cap by merely manually shifting the spray director 12 circumferentially of the boss 3. To facilitate this operation, the upper surface of said spray director may be knurled or serrated, as indicated at 22.

The top wall 4 of the cap is shown as concave, but it may be of any other shape without departing from this invention although in practice it is preferred that the uppermost edge or surface of this top wall 4 be at a higher elevation than both the valve operating tab 1 the highest point of the spray director 12, so that a plurality of cans equipped with this invention may be stacked without actuating or bearing upon either of these parts.

In the cap as shown in FIGS. l6, the spray director is of arcuate form and cooperates with a boss having a convex outer bearing surface. In the structure of FlGS. 7-9, the spray director is in the form of a cylindrical body 23 which is received within a socket 24 in the cap. The concave surface of this socket may have direct hearing with the convex surface of the spray director but, in practice, it is preferred to form on the surface of the socket 24 parallel sealing ribs 25 which bear against the convex surface of the spray director and form therewith seals against leakage of material between the spray director and the socket.

The parts described are preferably injection moldings of plastic which is more or less resilient and the socket is preferably initially molded so that it has a'slightly less radial dimension than the diameter of the spray director 23. When the spray director is forced into this socket, it slightly expands the socket radially to thereby insure firm resilient radial engagement between the sealing ribs 25 and the spray director. The spray director may be held in place solely by its partial enclosure within the socket, but, in practice, it is preferably positively held in place by alined trunnions 26 at its opposite parallel ends which project into bearing cavities formed in the cap.

The spray director has a diametric passage 27, the inner end of which is at all times in communication with one of the grooves 28 formed in the base of the socket 24 and communicating with a discharge passage 29 which corresponds to the passage 15. The outer end of the passage 1 7 communicates with a chamber 39, from which passages 31 lead to a discharge outlet 32 formed in an outlet nozzle 33. This nozzle 33 may be used in he of the discharge outlet arrangement of FIGS. 1-6, although the latter construction may be employed instead of a separate nozzle. When a separate nozzle is used, it is adapted to be sprung into an opening in the spray director and held in place therein by a flange 34, as shown in F116. 7. The exposed surface of the nozzle is knurled or serrated as at 34 to facilitate pivotable adjustment of the spray director.

Thus, the main difference between the structures of FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 and that of the preceding figures is that the spray director is received in a socket in the cap, whereas in FlGS. 16, the spray director fits over a boss formed on the exterior of said cap.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms, but the invention is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims. 7

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A combined cap and valve operating member for an aerosol dispenser comprising: a cap with means for supporting the same on an aerosol can, said cap being provided with an arcuate surface, a valve operating tab pivoted to said cap at one of its ends and having a socket to engage with the valve stem of an aerosol dispenser, said tab being provided with a discharge passage leading from the socket to said arcuate surface, and a spray director having a discharge outlet and provided with an arcuate surface bearing against the arcuate surface of said cap and movable circumferentially of the latter, and passages leading from the discharge passage of the tab to said discharge outlet of the spray director, whereby circumferential movement of the spray director will adjust the spray pattern of the effluent from the can in different angular directions relative to the axis of the cap.

2. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 1, wherein the spray director has pivotal connection with the cap to maintain said spray director in firm bearing engagement with said arcuate surface.

3. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 1, comprising trunnions located substantially at the center of curvature of the arcuate surface of the boss.

4. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 1, wherein the axis of circumferential movement of the spray director is horizontal when the can is in upright position.

5. A combined cap and valve operating member for an aerosol dispenser comprising: a cap with means for supporting the same on an aerosol can, said cap being exteriorly provided at one side thereof with a recess having therein a boss with an exterior arcuate bearing surface, there being parallel slots in the cap at each side of said boss, a valve operating tab pivoted to said cap and having a socket to engage with the valve stem of an aerosol dispenser, said tab also having a discharge passage leading from the socket to the arcuate bearing surface of the boss, and a spray director having a discharge outlet communicating with said discharge passage and provided with an arcuate bearing surface and also provided at its opposite sides with flanges projecting into said slots, said flanges having alined trunnions received in depressions in the walls of said slots for maintaining the arcuate surface of the spray director at all times in close facial engagement with the bearing surface of the boss while permitting circumferential movement of the spray director over the surface of said boss.

6. A combined cap and valve operating member for an aerosol dispenser comprising: a cap provided with an arcuate bearing surface the axis of which is substantially horizontal when the axis of the cap is upright, means including passages for delivering a liquid to said bearing surface, and a spray director having an arcuate surface conforming to said bearing surface of the cap and at all times in contact therewith, said spray director being mounted for circumferential movement on said bearing surface and having therein a discharge outlet interioriy communicating with the delivery passages of the cap.

7. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 6, wherein the spray director is pivotally supported on the cap.

8. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 6, wherein the spray director is provided with trunnions located at the center of curvature of the arcuate surface of the spray director and having bearings in the cap to mount said spray director for pivotal movement.

9. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 6, wherein the spray director is positioned within a socket formed within the cap for oscillatory movement on a horizontal axis.

10. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 6, wherein the spray director is of substantially cylindrical form and is positioned within a substantially correspondingly shaped socket for oscillatory movement with respect to the latter.

11. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 10, wherein the radial wall of the socket resiliently bears against the circumference of the spray director.

12. A combined cap and valve operating member according to claim 11, comprising sealing ribs interposed between the wall of the socket and the spray director to preclude leakage of material between them.

13. A combined cap and valve operating member for an aerosol dispenser comprising: a cap with means for supporting the same on an aerosol can, said cap being provided at one side thereof with an arcuate socket, a valve operating tab pivoted to said cap and having a chambered hub to receive a valve stem and a discharge passage leading 'rom the chambered hub to the base of the socket, and a spray director having an arcuate surface seated within said socket and provided at its opposite means supported by the spray director to facilitate manual ends With trunnions pivotally supporting the spray direcpivotal movement of the latter.

tor for rotation in the socket, said spray director having a discharge passage therethrough communicating with V fifi Cited y the Examiner arcuate slots formed in the base of the socket which in 5 UNITED STATES PA turn communicate with the discharge passage of the tab,

and an outlet nozzle mounted on the spray director and g f 222 182 X having therein a passage communicating With the discharge passage of said spray director 3094256 6/63 Ensch 222.536 3,116,856 1/64 Prussin et a1 222394 14. A combined cap and valve operating member for 10 an aerosol dispenser according to claim 13, comprising: LOUIS J. DEMBO, Primary Examiner. 

1. A COMBINED CAP AND VALVE OPERATING MEMBER FOR AN AEROSOL DISPENSER COMPRISING: A CAP WITH MEANS FOR SUPPORTING THE SAME ON AN AEROSOL CAN, SAID CAP BEING PROVIDED WITH AN ARCUATE SURFACE, A VALVE OPERATING TAB PIVOTED TO SAID CAP AT ONE OF ITS ENDS AND HAVING A SOCKET TO ENGAGE WITH THE VALVE STEM OF AN AEROSOL DISPENSER, SAID TAB BEING PROVIDED WITH A DISCHARGE PASSAGE LEADING FROM THE SOCKET TO SAID ARCUATE SURFACE, AND A SPRAY DIRECTOR HAVING A DISCHARGE OUTLET AND PROVIDED WITH AN ARCUATE SURFACE BEARING AGAINST THE ARCUATE SURFACE OF SAID CAP AND MOVABLE CIRCUMFERENTIALLY OF THE LATTER, AND PASSAGES LEADING FROM THE DISCHARGE PASSAGE OF THE TAB TO SAID DISCHARGE OUTLET OF THE SPRAY DIRECTOR, WHEREBY CIRCUMFERENTIAL MOVEMENT OF THE SPRAY DIRECTOR WILL ADJUST THE SPRAY PATTERN OF THE EFFLUENT FROM THE CAN IN DIFFERENT ANGULAR DIRECTIONS RELATIVE TO THE AXIS OF THE CAP. 